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How to mute videos, prevent preloading with the latest Instagram update

On Thursday, Instagram released a what appeared to be a rather mundane update to itsAndroid and iOS apps. Reading the release notes you’d think the update only addressed various bugs. The company later announced by a tweet from the Instagram account, it was revealed the update also included new controls for video playback in your timeline. While the update was announced for both Android and iOS at the same time, the Android update has yet to hit the Google Play Store.

With the update this week, that switch is no longer present, having been replaced by two new options. You can find either of these options by tapping on the profile tab, followed by the settings icon in the top-right corner of the screen, where the settings are bundled under the Video section.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)

The first is a setting that will mute all videos on your behalf, or base the audio playback on the current sound profile settings on your device. So if you have the mute switch set to silence on your iPhone, audio will not play when the video starts rolling. Android users only have the option to enable or disable sound by default.

The second setting gives you a chance to save some on your data plan by preventing Instagram from preloading videos when you’re not connected to a Wi-Fi network.

It appears videos will now autoplay no matter what, but you’re able to control whether or not audio will be included, as well as how fast any videos in your timeline will be ready to play. When a video is muted and it begins playing, you’ll see a small speaker icon displayed in the top-right corner, which you can tap on to unmute the video.